A Dramione Conspiracy
by Bookaholism
Summary: Draco and Hermione together? Or does Hermione love Ron far too much for that? And whatever Hermione's choice, how will the realization begin?


**A/N: Hey readers! This fanfiction has been written in the honor of JealousDragon. It's for her birthday, so I couldn't refuse!  
****Anyway, I would like to make this perfectly clear - I'm no Dramione shipper. I can't stand it. But, it's my aforementioned friend's OTP, hence her desire for me to write the following fanfiction to gift her.**

**So, dear readers, Warning: this fanfiction's main ship is Dramione, but has a fair bit of Romione too. So any of you Dramione shippers here to embrace one more into your ranks, sorry, I'm taken.**

**All Romione shipppers, thou shalt not be disappointed.**

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling does. Also, some lyrics of the song 'Possibilities' is used here. That is strictly the property of Freddie Stroma.**

* * *

Ginny patted Harry on the arm, and turned her back on the image of Ron and Lavender kissing. Her brother was a hypocrite as well as incredibly thick.  
Would never realize that the fact that he loved Hermione.

Shaking her head in exasperation, she turned to the portrait hole to find Dean, and noticed Hermione slam her way out of the common room, Harry following her. She wondered if she should follow Harry's example, but then decided to leave the two best friends alone.

A little later, Hermione stormed back in the common room, dodging the party and an offer for canary creams, and proceeded to bustle up the dorm stairs.

She looked positively drowned in tears. Alarmed, Ginny hurried to follow her, someone stepped in her way out of nowhere.

"Out of my way!" Ginny said without looking who was there.

"Wait," said Lavender in her irritatingly high voice. "Hermione looks like she could use some cheering up."

Ginny rolled her eyes at the nerve. "If you stop planting yourself in the way, I might just do that."

Lavender bit her lip and lowered her eyes. "I didn't mean to hurt her," she said in a low voice. "Why don't you give her this?" She handed Ginny a butterbeer.

Ginny looked at it, puzzled. But then shrugged and headed to the sixth year dormitory.

As she entered, Hermione looked up and said, "Hi, Ginny."

"Hi, Hermione."

Ginny sat down beside her on the four-poster bed. Not knowing what to say, she simply passed her the butterbeer. Hermione took it.

They sat in silence for a minute, by which time Hermione had drained the drink.

Suddenly Ginny spoke, "Look, Hermione, you know how big an idiot Ron is. His brain's really thick. He'll come around."

"Hmm."

"Come on, why don't you take a walk with me outside?" Ginny said imploringly.

"No, Ginny, I'm not in the mood."

Ten minutes and some dragging later, Ginny and Hermione set off towards the library. On the way, though, Ginny noticed a change. Hermione was seemed just a little more cheerful. Smiling a little herself, she said, "The library is the trick for you, isn't it?"

Hermione smiled back.

* * *

Slytherin lost.

"I wish I'd hit Vaisey over his head myself with that bludger last practice." I grumbled. Crabbe and Goyle nodded like puppets by my side. I continued, "I'm gone a day and they mess up an entire match. That Hooch is a blood-traitor too; that's why she's always partial towards Gryffindor."

Crabbe spoke lopsidedly to me, "But at least, Draco, you did got on with our Death eaters w–"

"Shut up!" I burst out. Lowering my voice, "Have you lost it? If anyone hears about this, you're dead, you daft dummy."

My ears hurt when those two open their mouths, honestly. I wish father could do something about it.

Someone tapped my shoulder. Hoping to see Pansy, I was disappointed slightly when I saw Theodore Nott's face illuminated by the green light.

He handed me some firewhiskey. "Awful game. Where were you, anyway?"

I took a swig from the bottle while thinking how to answer him. "I had more important business to do."

"More important than Quidditch?"

"Yeah, Nott, so why don't you pull your ugly nose out of it?"

"Why so vicious?"

"Well, snakes are vicious." I couldn't help the slight smile.

I was likewise returned the smile. "Well, you know us, we'd rather wait and give an utterly devastating defeat in the very end."

"Venomous approach."

"Well, snakes are venomous," He smirked.

Slytherin humor; you just have to love it.

While lying around comfily in the half light was good, some thoughts do tend to mar them. Feeling a lurch in my stomach, I remembered that Snape wasn't so polite to me anymore in class, and wouldn't appreciate my unfinished DADA homework.

Abruptly I took off towards the library.

* * *

I smiled. Not at Ginny's joke, but at the effort she was making to cheer me up. She was very comforting, witty, vivacious and caring, all at once. I love her like a sister. But she was so much older for her age, she'd become a friend as good as Harry and Ron.

But even without Ginny's help, I felt better. Certain unidentifiable warmth was flowing through me. Maybe it _was _the books. They always lifted my mood.

The silent familiarity of the Library embraced me. I sat down at the table and talked to Ginny about everything from Quidditch to her OWLs to Christmas. After a while, I sensed that she was sleepy after the game's exhaustion.

"Ginny, I've got to read a book on Ancient Runes right now. No, no, I'm all right." I smiled at her with affection, genuinely. Ginny smiled back, gave me a goodnight hug, and left for the common room.

I went over to the Ancient Runes section, passing through Latin. But suddenly a word written in Latin captured my gaze… Draco.

It meant 'dragon', of course. But more of the sudden warmth spread through me as an image of the namesake of the word appeared in my mind's eye… yeah, dragon did suit him… fiery temper… protective nature… protective towards what? I didn't know… but it sounded so good, it had to be true.

Suddenly an urge grasped me. I needed to see Draco Malfoy. _Needed to. _Surely he must be feeling something similar. Surely…

I ran. I ran without knowing where to go. The library's entrance, yeah, I'll go there…

* * *

I blew like the wind over the Marble staircase. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw it was dark and just about an hour till curfew, even curfew for prefects. What was the use of being one if you couldn't even pretend to patrol the corridors at night? I skuddered up a shortcut, already thinking about which section of the Library I needed to go to.

But the image of the library came with the image of a person who was as intricate a portion of it as the books themselves. Blood thundered through brain and I felt hot all over. Probably the running, I did it so seldom. I doubled over to take a breath and closed my eyes, but then an image of Hermione Granger came so clearly I knew I must be hallucinating. Warm brown hair and such a pretty laugh… She was a mudblood, but how did that matter…

Desire to see her wrapped my mind in a death grip. My heart pounded in approval of my brain's idea. Maybe she was in the Library, as she was so often… yeah, I should start with the Library…

Fatigue forgotten, I dashed the remaining distance in the thudding of my shoes. I shot through the arches on either side of the library's entrance and –

CRASH!

* * *

One second, I was running, all thought of Ron, Ginny and the Ancient Runes book forgotten. Only Draco existed. Only he –

With an almighty crash, someone collided into me. I staggered back, befuddled and about to fall, when an arm slipped over my waist to steady me.

Looking up, I found myself staring into the eyes of Draco Malfoy.

My mouth opened in response to the 1000 volt shock I'd just received. But he beat me to it.

"Are you okay, Hermione?" His concern washed over me. Somewhere I registered this was the first time I'd heard him speak my first name. God, in his voice, it sounded _hot.  
_  
"Yes, Draco, I'm fine." I blushed so fiercely that my face must've resembled a tomato. His face wasn't far from mine. He wasn't much taller either. Slender, though, definitely.

An idiotically adorable smirk stretched on his face. "Hermione," he whispered, and leaned so close to me I forgot what air was, "why are you blushing?"

Breathless, with my heart glued to my throat, I managed, "so are you."

Blinking and withdrawing with disappointing rapidity, he looked me in the eye and said,"No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are."

"I'm not."

"You are."

"If I am, it's your fault."

Like honey it came, slow and sweet. He felt the same way. Draco Malfoy shared my feelings. Joy coursed through me. Elation bore my heart to the skies and I was thrilled like I had never been. I reminisced about my flight on Buckbeak. Exciting, ecstatic, free.

I wove a hand through his shiny blond hair, ruffling through it. "I feel the same way," I murmured. Somewhere, a beautiful voice echoed, singing –

_All these possibilities_  
_so many little possibilities_  
_right in front of us_  
_close enough to touch_  
_and far enough to have some time to see_

Life does have background music, then? I agreed with the song. Here was a possibility. I rose to pull Draco in my arms, to kiss him.

Cormac McLaggen had no glory in the common room at the time. Weasley was the hero, and Weasley had beaten him in the trials… he wondered yet again what had happened there. He fancied that the Granger girl's beauty had temporarily confunded him.

_All these possibilities_  
_whoa these possibilities_  
_are written in the stars_  
_we are who we are baby_  
_and I can't help but think that possibly_  
_there's possibilities_

He sang the next verse with ease and style unmatched by any other earthly being. In his opinion, all boring work required the accompaniment of something extraordinarily good, like a song written by him. And having the unparalleled and sensational voice he did, that was like the little extra work a Keeper did in Quidditch, like a teach a Beater, help a Seeker, guide a chaser. Of course, no one except him ever thought like that.

Homework done, he proceeded to go to his dorm and sleep. But, in a single heart-stopping moment, he chanced upon Granger, _the_ Granger of  
Gryffindor, kissing a Slytherin blondie.

With a very load exclamation, he shoved them apart and whirled onto Granger.

"MERLIN'S PANTS! WHAT THE –"

But he blanched on his words and hastily swallowed then back as Hermione Granger's wand somehow apparated in her hand and she growled with such ferocity her animagus would surely be a lion. Cormac didn't need any other reason to flee. Dropping half his parchment and ink, arms over his head, scarpered the scene, taking a zigzag path.

Upon reaching the common room minutes later, he looked for someone who could help him. The first person he saw was Weasley's sister, but grabbed her anyway.

"What the hell?!" she shrieked, pulling out her wand to hex him.

"GRANGER!" Cormac shouted to her. That stopped her firing the spell.

Cormac told her what he could without gibbering like an idiot. One sentence through, she exclaimed "You idiot! Has your sanity left for good?!" and other assorted insults and expressions of disbelief.

Cormac continued anyway, keeping a wary eye out for her wand. With a sudden exclamation midway through, though, the Weasley girl ran up to her dorm.

By the time Ginny Weasley reappeared, Cormac McLaggen had had his lights winked out by Dean Thomas and other members of her fan club, on account of 'disturbing their time with Ginny.'

* * *

Ginny thanked Merlin for her twin brothers.

During the summer, Fred and George had provided her with love potion antidote. Said that her popularity could work against her. She'd snorted and shoved it back, but George had slipped it into her school trunk. And coming to school, she hadn't had the heart to throw it away.

Ginny was glad she'd kept it now.

It had taken all of Ginny's skill to keep Hermione from jinxing her into a jelly when she broke her away from Malfoy. Malfoy was getting on Ginny's nerves, so she shut him up with a Stunning spell. Hermione shrieked so much at that it was a wonder Madam Pince, Filch or his cat, or half the castle didn't come to running to the spot.

Slowly, deliberately, Ginny persuaded Hermione to drink the antidote. She gave it her best effort, and even in the end, only accomplished it forcefully.

When Hermione came to her senses again, she was so completely appalled at herself she started screaming and crying. Ginny held Hermione in a hug while she sobbed.

Ginny didn't have to wait long before the shock turned into burning anger.

"WHO DID THAT, GINNY?! WHO GAVE YOU THAT BUTTERBEER!?" Ginny couldn't help marvel at Hermione's presence of mind in a time like this. "HE'S JELLY!" she sputtered with rage, "FOUL, LOWLY, FILTHY –"

"Hermione!" Ginny said hurriedly, "First, I DO NOT want Filch upon us! It's past curfew!" Hermione took a deep breath. Taking it as a good sign, Ginny said, "Second, not a _he_, a _she_. Lavender Brown. Yes, I'm flabbergasted as well. But I don't want you to dish out a torturous death yet."

Hermione thought for a second, then, to Ginny's surprise, smirked a little. "Oh, Ginny, I'm didn't intend to." She said loftily. "It's fitting for Ron to stay with someone like that."

Ginny's jaw dropped. Despite everything, from drinking a love potion to kissing Draco Malfoy, from Cormac seeing it to the rage that had overcome Hermione after it, she still thought of Ron. Hermione still thought only of him. Ginny had never met two people so obviously meant for each other than Ron and Hermione.

"So," Hermione said, "What's going to happen to him?" She indicated the unconscious body of Draco Malfoy.

"Oh, I think we should enervate him and send him off to his common room. If anyone sees him blacked out here, there'll be an investigation."

Hermione nodded, her expression uncertain. Reading it, Ginny smiled and said, "You're worried about how much he'll remember?"

Hermione nodded again, clearly embarrassed. Then, taking out her wand, she spoke, "Obliviate."

Malfoy's eyes rolled in his sockets dreamily. Ginny smiled at the spellwork.

"Pass the antidote, please." Taking it, Hermione bent over to make pour the contents down Malfoy's throat.

She stood up. Wand pointed at him, Hermione cast a spell again."Enervate."

Draco Malfoy opened his eyes wearily. "Ow, my head hurts –"seeing Hermione and Ginny standing over him, he gave a start. "Mudbloods! What did you do to me?!"

Hermione spoke scathingly, "Gave you what you deserved for being an idiot."

"I'll tell my father about this!"

"Sure, go say that a mudblood and a blood-traitor knocked you out with a single spell in a duel." Ginny said cynically.

Hermione cocked her head."Your father is in Azkaban, Malfoy."

Wearing a scandalized expression, mouth gaping, Malfoy gracelessly slipped and slided himself out.

Watching bemusedly after him, Ginny spoke sideways to Hermione. "You've gone from punching to kissing Draco Malfoy. How does it feel?"

"Oh, shut up." Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

Ginny snickered.

"So _he's _out of the equation. Just McLaggen left, then?"

"Yeah."

The two girls set off towards Gryffindor tower, side by side.

* * *

Lavender Brown waited impatiently in the trophy room the next night, ticking the seconds to curfew. She could scarcely believe she'd actually given Hermione the damn potion. She'd always been against the plan.

Only now she realized how cunningly manipulative Slytherins were. She should've been more wary of Theodore Nott. But he'd spun Ron into his web of talk, and that had changed everything for Lavender. She'd had a crush on him since the summer. She resented Hermione for being with Ron instead of her. Only now, she realized how wrong it was to be mean to her for that.

Lavender's hand clutched at her wand in her pocket. Nott had said he wanted to teach Draco Malfoy a lesson. He hated him and his relationship with Pansy Parkinson. Lavender had cared absolutely nothing for that, but the part about Ron…

Nott appeared in the doorway, hands in his pockets. He was whistling softly. He walked towards Lavender, but stopped a good five feet away.

Lavender said," I want to ask you something."

"Go on, Blue."

"Brown!"

"Whatever."

"You knew the love potion would wear off sometime. And we couldn't continuously keep giving them that. Then why…?"

"If the Dramione conspiracy had worked, then we wouldn't have had to." He said slowly, as if talking to a child. "If the castle had seen them together even once, Pansy would've been disgusted by it and immediately left Malfoy. Likewise with Weasley."

"Hmm. We shouldn't have done it."

"I regret nothing."

"And what exactly came out of this?"

"A utilized opportunity. That's what Slytherins are about, you know, never missing an opportunity." Said Nott.

A voice came from behind Lavender. "Opportunity, here, of course, meaning playing two enemies together and being highly obsessive about love, proving exactly why you don't deserve it."

Lavender gasped and spun to see Ginny step out of the shadows.

"Which of you two's idea was this?"

Nott stepped up."Mine, Weasley."

"Who bought the love potion from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?"

"I did." Nott said, chin up, nose in the air.

Ginny couldn't help a streak of respect for Theodore Nott. She remembered the guy from the Slug Club. He was the first Slytherin with a spine.

But, he'd also gravely insulted her best friend. So, he had it coming.

A well-practiced incantation and a flash of light later, Nott stood clutching his nose, bat-shaped bogeys erupting out of his nostrils.

Lavender screamed but stood her ground. After a moment, she said, "I s'pose you're going to tell Ron everything?" Ginny noticed regret and sadness in equal measures in her voice.

"Actually, no." She said cheerfully. "I want him to find out for himself that he's in love with Hermione."

Having said that, Ginny stylishly walked out, leaving a gaping Lavender, a victim of the bat-bogey hex, and innumerable trophies behind her.

* * *

**A/N: Love Ginny. Always have, always will. And for the sake of a young fangirl's continued motivation to write, could I get a review? Just a teensy one? *makes puppy eyes***

**P.S.: Those of you who got the joke in the song, bravo! You, dearest dedicated Harry Potter fan who has a really good music taste, are awesome.**


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